Berlin, Germany

Berlin is the hedonism capital of Europe and it has earned that reputation on the technicality of decades. The clubs run from Friday night to Monday morning as a single continuous event, the dress code is nonexistent, and the entire city has agreed that the question of what you are into is not a moral matter. Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain are the alternative heart, Neukölln is the artist-and-immigrant quarter, Mitte is the polished centre, Prenzlauer Berg is the settled version with the good cafes, and Berghain is the most famous club on earth with a door policy that is its own religion.

The city's culture is broke-and-beautiful, budget-obsessed, and genuinely open — German directness plus Berlin's specific refusal to be scandalised produces performers who say exactly what they want and expect the same. Nudity and kink are ordinary topics rather than revelations, and the sheer quantity of alternative subcultures means nobody is the odd one out.

Expect real club culture, genuine directness, and a city where nothing you are interested in counts as unusual.

Nearby: Leipzig Dresden Hamburg Munich